Continually Checking Your Priorities

Continually Checking Your Priorities

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” . . . Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14

King Solomon was highly successful by most people’s standards—he had fame, fortune, status, comfort, and power—but his life did not end well. That’s because those things don’t satisfy us. I’ve seen too many people seeking things that aren’t worthy of all the time, expense, and effort to get them. Time eventually shows which of our pursuits were ultimately empty. Excessive time at the office watching game film, or chasing after fame, fortune, or fleeting pleasure. All empty.

We’ve seen how Christ’s priorities are different from the world’s value system, and most of us have to reevaluate our priorities from time to time in order to line them up with what’s truly valuable. We don’t want to end like Solomon did—knowing the key to a meaningful, fulfilling life but never living up to what we know to be true. But how do we shift our priorities? How do we make the changes we want to make?

A life centered on Christ will not only help to free us from the uncertainty of our tomorrows and worries about success and achievements—what Solomon called “chasing after the wind.” It will redirect our focus toward what really matters. It will put finances, health, relationships, and our goals for the future in the right perspective. When we “chase after God” rather than chasing after the wind, we find that our relationship with Him rearranges our priorities.

It’s never too late to put things in order and enjoy the blessings God has placed all around us—blessings like a beautiful sunset, the face of a newborn baby, the laugh of a child, or any other evidence of His work in our lives. Shifting our priorities will require some changes, and it isn’t always easy. Solomon said the key to a meaningful, fulfilling life is God. If we make Him the center of our lives, He changes our perspective and our purpose.

Uncommon Key > The key to shifting our priorities is focusing on God above all else and letting His priorities become ours.